King Hezekiah of Judah

¹In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah as king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah

²at the age of twenty-five, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

³Following the example of his ancestor King David, he did what was pleasing to the Lord.

⁴He destroyed the pagan places of worship, broke the stone pillars, and cut down the images of the goddess Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze snake that Moses had made, which was called Nehushtan. Up to that time the people of Israel had burned incense in its honor.

⁵Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; Judah never had another king like him, either before or after his time.

⁶He was faithful to the Lord and never disobeyed him, but carefully kept all the commands that the Lord had given Moses.

⁷So the Lord was with him, and he was successful in everything he did. He rebelled against the emperor of Assyria and refused to submit to him.

⁸He defeated the Philistines and raided their settlements, from the smallest village to the largest city, including Gaza and its surrounding territory.

⁹In the fourth year of Hezekiah's reign—which was the seventh year of King Hoshea's reign over Israel—Emperor Shalmaneser of Assyria invaded Israel and besieged Samaria.

¹⁰In the third year of the siege Samaria fell; this was the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign and the ninth year of Hoshea's reign.

¹¹The Assyrian emperor took the Israelites to Assyria as prisoners and settled some of them in the city of Halah, some near the Habor River in the district of Gozan, and some in the cities of Media.

¹²Samaria fell because the Israelites did not obey the Lord their God, but broke the covenant he had made with them and disobeyed all the laws given by Moses, the servant of the Lord. They would not listen and they would not obey.

The Assyrians Threaten Jerusalem

¹³In the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, attacked the fortified cities of Judah and conquered them.

¹⁴Hezekiah sent a message to Sennacherib, who was in Lachish: “I have done wrong; please stop your attack, and I will pay whatever you demand.” The emperor's answer was that Hezekiah should send him ten tons of silver and one ton of gold.

¹⁵Hezekiah sent him all the silver in the Temple and in the palace treasury;

¹⁶he also stripped the gold from the temple doors and the gold with which he himself had covered the doorposts, and he sent it all to Sennacherib.

¹⁷The Assyrian emperor sent a large army from Lachish to attack Hezekiah at Jerusalem; it was commanded by his three highest officials. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they occupied the road where the cloth makers work by the ditch that brings water from the upper pool.

¹⁸Then they sent for King Hezekiah, and three of his officials went out to meet them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace; Shebna, the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, who was in charge of the records.

¹⁹One of the Assyrian officials told them that the emperor wanted to know what made King Hezekiah so confident.

²⁰He demanded, “Do you think that words can take the place of military skill and might? Who do you think will help you rebel against Assyria?

²¹You are expecting Egypt to help you, but that would be like using a reed as a walking stick—it would break and jab your hand. That is what the king of Egypt is like when anyone relies on him.”

²²The Assyrian official went on, “Or will you tell me that you are relying on the Lord your God? It was the Lord's shrines and altars that Hezekiah destroyed, when he told the people of Judah and Jerusalem to worship only at the altar in Jerusalem.

²³I will make a bargain with you in the name of the emperor. I will give you two thousand horses if you can find that many men to ride them!

²⁴You are no match for even the lowest ranking Assyrian official, and yet you expect the Egyptians to send you chariots and cavalry!

²⁵Do you think I have attacked your country and destroyed it without the Lord's help? The Lord himself told me to attack it and destroy it.”

²⁶Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah told the official, “Speak Aramaic to us, sir. We understand it. Don't speak Hebrew; all the people on the wall are listening.”

²⁷He replied, “Do you think you and the king are the only ones the emperor sent me to say all these things to? No, I am also talking to the people who are sitting on the wall, who will have to eat their excrement and drink their urine, just as you will.”

²⁸Then the official stood up and shouted in Hebrew, “Listen to what the emperor of Assyria is telling you!

²⁹He warns you not to let Hezekiah deceive you. Hezekiah can't save you.

³⁰And don't let him persuade you to rely on the Lord. Don't think that the Lord will save you and that he will stop our Assyrian army from capturing your city.

³¹Don't listen to Hezekiah. The emperor of Assyria commands you to come out of the city and surrender. You will all be allowed to eat grapes from your own vines and figs from your own trees, and to drink water from your own wells—

³²until the emperor resettles you in a country much like your own, where there are vineyards to give wine and there is grain for making bread; it is a land of olives, olive oil, and honey. If you do what he commands, you will not die, but live. Don't let Hezekiah fool you into thinking that the Lord will rescue you.

³³Did the gods of any other nations save their countries from the emperor of Assyria?

³⁴Where are they now, the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did anyone save Samaria?

³⁵When did any of the gods of all these countries ever save their country from our emperor? Then what makes you think the Lord can save Jerusalem?”

³⁶The people kept quiet, just as King Hezekiah had told them to; they did not say a word.

³⁷Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah tore their clothes in grief, and went and reported to the king what the Assyrian official had said.

King Hezekiah of Judah

¹Hezekiah became king of Judah at the age of twenty-five, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

²Following the example of his ancestor King David, he did what was pleasing to the Lord.

The Purification of the Temple

³In the first month of the year after Hezekiah became king, he reopened the gates of the Temple and had them repaired.

⁴He assembled a group of priests and Levites in the east courtyard of the Temple

⁵and spoke to them there. He said, “You Levites are to consecrate yourselves and purify the Temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove from the Temple everything that defiles it.

⁶Our ancestors were unfaithful to the Lord our God and did what was displeasing to him. They abandoned him and turned their backs on the place where he dwells.

⁷They closed the doors of the Temple, let the lamps go out, and failed to burn incense or offer burnt offerings in the Temple of the God of Israel.

⁸Because of this the Lord has been angry with Judah and Jerusalem, and what he has done to them has shocked and frightened everyone. You know this very well.

⁹Our fathers were killed in battle, and our wives and children have been taken away as prisoners.

¹⁰“I have now decided to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that he will no longer be angry with us.

¹¹My sons, do not lose any time. You are the ones that the Lord has chosen to burn incense to him and to lead the people in worshiping him.”

^12-14The following Levites were there: From the clan of Kohath, Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah From the clan of Merari, Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel From the clan of Gershon, Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah From the clan of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel From the clan of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah From the clan of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei From the clan of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel

¹⁵These men assembled their fellow Levites, and they all made themselves ritually clean. Then, as the king had commanded them to do, they began to make the Temple ritually clean, according to the Law of the Lord.

¹⁶The priests went inside the Temple to purify it, and they carried out into the Temple courtyard everything that was ritually unclean. From there the Levites took it all outside the city to Kidron Valley.

¹⁷The work was begun on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day they had finished it all, including the entrance room to the Temple. Then they worked for the next eight days, until the sixteenth of the month, preparing the Temple for worship.

The Temple Is Rededicated

¹⁸The Levites made the following report to King Hezekiah: “We have completed the ritual purification of the whole Temple, including the altar for burnt offerings, the table for the sacred bread, and all their equipment.

¹⁹We have also brought back all the equipment which King Ahaz took away during those years he was unfaithful to God, and we have rededicated it. It is all in front of the Lord's altar.”

²⁰Without delay King Hezekiah assembled the leading men of the city, and together they went to the Temple.

²¹As an offering to take away the sins of the royal family and of the people of Judah and to purify the Temple, they took seven bulls, seven sheep, seven lambs, and seven goats. The king told the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, to offer the animals as sacrifices on the altar.

²²The priests killed the bulls first, then the sheep, and then the lambs, and sprinkled the blood of each sacrifice on the altar.

²³Finally they took the goats to the king and to the other worshipers, who laid their hands on them.

²⁴Then the priests killed the goats and poured their blood on the altar as a sacrifice to take away the sin of all the people, for the king had commanded that burnt offerings and sin offerings be made for all Israel.

²⁵The king followed the instructions that the Lord had given to King David through Gad, the king's prophet, and through the prophet Nathan; he stationed Levites in the Temple, with harps and cymbals,

²⁶instruments like those that King David had used. The priests also stood there with trumpets.

²⁷Hezekiah gave the order for the burnt offering to be presented; and as the offering began, the people sang praise to the Lord, and the musicians began to play the trumpets and all the other instruments.

²⁸Everyone who was there joined in worship, and the singing and the rest of the music continued until all the sacrifices had been burned.

²⁹Then King Hezekiah and all the people knelt down and worshiped God.

³⁰The king and the leaders of the nation told the Levites to sing to the Lord the songs of praise that were written by David and by Asaph the prophet. So everyone sang with great joy as they knelt and worshiped God.

³¹Hezekiah said to the people, “Now that you are ritually clean, bring sacrifices as offerings of thanksgiving to the Lord.” They obeyed, and some of them also voluntarily brought animals to be sacrificed as burnt offerings.

³²They brought 70 bulls, 100 sheep, and 200 lambs as burnt offerings for the Lord;

³³they also brought 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep as sacrifices for the people to eat.

³⁴Since there were not enough priests to kill all these animals, the Levites helped them until the work was finished. By then more priests had made themselves ritually clean. (The Levites were more faithful in keeping ritually clean than the priests were.)

³⁵In addition to offering the sacrifices that were burned whole, the priests were responsible for burning the fat that was offered from the sacrifices which the people ate, and for pouring out the wine that was presented with the burnt offerings. And so worship in the Temple was begun again.

³⁶King Hezekiah and the people were happy, because God had helped them to do all this so quickly.

An Evening Prayer

¹I call to you, Lord; help me now! Listen to me when I call to you.

²Receive my prayer as incense, my uplifted hands as an evening sacrifice.

³Lord, place a guard at my mouth, a sentry at the door of my lips.

⁴Keep me from wanting to do wrong and from joining evil people in their wickedness. May I never take part in their feasts.

⁵Good people may punish me and rebuke me in kindness, but I will never accept honor from evil people, because I am always praying against their evil deeds.

⁶When their rulers are thrown down from rocky cliffs, the people will admit that my words were true.

⁷Like wood that is split and chopped into bits, so their bones are scattered at the edge of the grave.

⁸But I keep trusting in you, my Sovereign Lord. I seek your protection; don't let me die!

⁹Protect me from the traps they have set for me, from the snares of those evildoers.

¹⁰May the wicked fall into their own traps while I go by unharmed.